SHCA Says City Is Deliberately Competing Against Local Industry

By Craig Baird, Regina Leader-Post

The Saskatchewan Heavy Construction Association (SHCA) is accusing the City of Regina of competing against local industry and its members by selling recycled products to the market at a discounted rate and self-performing its own road construction.

Self-performing involves a city using its own equipment, materials and workers to carry out infrastructure projects rather than private companies.

“It is not a level playing field right now,” said Shantel Lipp, president of the SHCA. “Unlike the private sector, municipally-owned enterprises (MOE) can lose money and stay in business. MOEs don’t have to pay taxes, they can use the municipality’s credit rating to finance purchases at below-market interest rates and they use tax dollars to subsidize their operations to continue to undercut the private sector.”